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Book a Week 2017 - BW3: Author Oulipo Mashup


Robin M
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I did read/finish Paul Coelho's The Alchemist. Waste of two hours. I probably would have liked it in high school but it is terribly pre-digested. A fun book is one thing but if it is going to be serious, I need some more meat to chew on.

I really liked this book, but I approached it as a fun beach read. It was really great for that.

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I am still reading Sous Les Ventes de Neptune from last week. Will probably finish it tomorrow.

I did read/finish Paul Coelho's The Alchemist. Waste of two hours. I probably would have liked it in high school but it is terribly pre-digested. A fun book is one thing but if it is going to be serious, I need some more meat to chew on.

I did start reading Jane Eyre because.. Well, I have no excuses :) and we are halfway through Kate DeCamillo's The Magician's Elephant as our audio book this week. I'm not totally in love with it yet. None of us are captivated really but we will see how the last few chapters go.

I read a Coelho novel a couple of years ago, back when I assigned stars to books. I gave it a single star and even wondered why I had finished it. Definitely not my speed...
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I thought of two more books that I read while away.  These were both re-reads, and it was fun to spot a minor character from one book be mentioned in the other.

 

Motel. Pool.  by Kim Fielding

 

"In the mid-1950s, Jack Dayton flees his working-class prospects in Omaha and heads to Hollywood, convinced he’ll be the next James Dean. But sleazy casting couches don't earn him stardom, and despair leads to a series of poor decisions that ultimately find him at a cheap motel off Route 66, lifeless at the bottom of the pool.

 

Sixty years later, Tag Manning, feeling hopeless and empty, flees his most recent relationship mistake and takes to the open road. On a roundabout route to Las Vegas, he pulls over to rest at an isolated spot on Route 66. There’s no longer a motel or pool, but when Tag resumes his journey to Vegas, he finds he’s transporting a hitchhiking ghost. Jack and Tag come to find much-needed friends in each other, but one man is a phantom and the other is strangely cursed. Time is running out for each of them, and they must face the fact that a future together may not only be a gamble... it may not be in the cards."

 

And Rattlesnake by Kim Fielding

 

"A drifter since his teens, Jimmy Dorsett has no home and no hope. What he does have is a duffel bag, a lot of stories, and a junker car. Then one cold desert night he picks up a hitchhiker and ends up with something more: a letter from a dying man to the son he hasn’t seen in years.

On a quest to deliver the letter, Jimmy travels to Rattlesnake, a small town nestled in the foothills of the California Sierras. The centerpiece of the town is the Rattlesnake Inn, where the bartender is handsome former cowboy Shane Little. Sparks fly, and when Jimmy’s car gives up the ghost, Shane gets him a job as handyman at the inn.

Both within the community of Rattlesnake and in Shane’s arms, Jimmy finds an unaccustomed peace. But it can’t be a lasting thing. The open road continues to call, and surely Shane—a strong, proud man with a painful past and a difficult present—deserves better than a lying vagabond who can’t stay put for long."

 

Note that these are both romances featuring two men.  (Adult content)

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Hello everyone! My book this week was A Man Called Ove. It was everything people say. It was charming and he was a wonderful character to get to "know." A sweet book full of goodness. 

 

Good to know.  That's the book we picked for our next book club.  No one has read it yet, but the person who suggested it said she had had a few people recommend it to her recently.  Most of us had not even heard of it.  I put it on hold on Overdrive and I'm #119 on 39 copies right now so it'll be a while.  Good thing book group won't meet again until March!

 

I did read/finish Paul Coelho's The Alchemist. Waste of two hours. I probably would have liked it in high school but it is terribly pre-digested. A fun book is one thing but if it is going to be serious, I need some more meat to chew on.

I hated that book so incredibly much.  I read it for a book group I was in 3 years ago.  About half of us hated it and half loved it.  There was no in between.  It ended up being quite the lively discussion.

 

I finished Norwegian Wood.  I am honestly not sure what I think of it.  It wasn't amazing.  It wasn't horrible.  It was just kind of... there.  And a bit depressing.  After the last three books I've read I really need a brain candy book or five.

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And, I'm horrified. I can't even explain how I felt reading this book. I wanted to read it. I wanted to stop reading it. But I didn't. I couldn't really. The power of this piece made my chest hurt, my heart hurt, my head hurt. I was physically in pain while reading this; even after reading this. I think this is the most visceral, most stressful reading I have ever experienced. I don't even know what to say now that I'm finished.

That pretty much guarantees I will never read that book. 

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You ladies are reading much more sophisticated literature than I am right now.  I have been in the bed for the past few days with pneumonia and my kindle.  In my search for a light read, I discovered a free ebook about Grimm's Fairy Tales titled UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn.  I got sucked into the freebie book ( even though it had major grammar errors) and downloaded the rest of the series on my Kindle.  I finished all five of them and really loved the series.  I would recommend this series to girls as young as 6th grade and up. The series is full of adventure, magic, and light romance (kissing). Thankfully, the other four books in the series have been well edited before being published. 

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My first boyfriend's dad was a Paterson cop. Lived in Hawthorne. I spent a lot of good years driving around that area :) Funny how small the world gets.

 

Want to see it get even smaller? My ex-stepfather was a Paterson cop. I'm sure his time on the force was way before your boyfriend's time though. 

 

ETA: Duh. Your boyfriend's dad not your boyfriend. Still, I seriously doubt it was at the same time. My stepfather retired in 1969.

Edited by Lady Florida.
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Thanks!  I ordered the kiddy version.

 

Guess I'll switch to The Wheel on the School for our read-aloud for now.  :p

 

We loved that book.  It was so wonderful.  It is not a fast action packed book but the payoff for sticking with it was so splendid. 

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Hey!  Welcome back lady!  If you can, try to catch up on the past few threads because we had some interesting romance discussions that I think you would particularly enjoy. 

 

Good morning all~

I didn't get much print reading in this week due to traveling and celebrating our 26th anniversary!

 

DH and I listened to a Catherine Ryan Hyde book, Walk Me Home, while driving. Catherine's books are always engaging and I love listening to them while driving. This particular reader was top notch and that made listening even more enjoyable. DH enjoyed the story but has requested a more masculine story for our next drive. :) Walk Me Home had two young female protagonists so I give DH props for listening to the entire 12 hour book.

 

I'm still reading Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain. It's engaging and I am enjoying it. It's written by a neuroscientist and some of the writing is technical (requires a minimum knowledge of psychology and neurology). It's quite captivating, though, and I'm glad I picked it up. I'm currently in the chapter about stress and I am finding myself writing down the info for research articles for future reading.

 

Happy anniversary. 

 

If you come across any additional information about depression/anxiety/exercise then please pass it on.  Ever since finishing the book I've been diligently getting on the treadmill for at least 30 minutes.  I hate it but knowing it's so good for me makes me do it. 

 

I feel like I've been kicked in the chest.

 

I would advise sitting down and watching Beauty and the Beast.  That should help.  "Tale as old as time ...." 

 

Please DON'T send me that book!

Edited by aggieamy
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I'm a bit in the reading doldrums.  I have fifteen books that I want to read and haven't picked up any of them because I can't decide.  Luckily I've had all the cookbook recommendations that you gals gave me to keep me company at night in bed. 

 

DD and I just gave up on our third read aloud in a row.  It's a little depressing.  They have either not grabbed our attention within 50 pages or were so little kid that she and I couldn't take them seriously.  Tomorrow night we start The Moonstone.  I hope I'm a strong enough reader to read it aloud because I know it will test my pronunciation on many words. 

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Hope you feel better soon, mrskturner! :grouphug:  Pneumonia is horrible!

 Thank you <3 I am struggling with having to put school on hold a few days, but I am loving all the reading I am getting in! The older two kids are thankfully, obediently, plugging along with their school work. 

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I love the cover art! It's funny that you say that because it should have occurred to me that it's a sunflower or some variation thereof because of the Van Gogh connection.... But, ever since the first time I've seen the cover (years ago), I've thought "rooster". So that is what I always see. :lol:

 

 

Stacia, I just thought I was a little weird, but "rooster" was what I saw as well. I wonder if it's kind of like a Rorschach test.

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Good Evening, dolls!!!

 

For fans of Karen Moning, her latest in Fever series Feversong is coming out tomorrow!

 

 

Check out bbc's Earthsea and radio dramatization of Ursula Le Guin story. http://bbc.in/1HHtUPH

 

Check out Lithubs 30 essential crime reads written by women in the last 100 years. http://lithub.com/30-essential-crime-reads-written-by-women-in-the-last-100-years/

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Good Evening, dolls!!!

 

 

Check out Lithubs 30 essential crime reads written by women in the last 100 years. http://lithub.com/30-essential-crime-reads-written-by-women-in-the-last-100-years/

 

Wow.  I don't think a more Amy-approved list of books has ever existed.  I'm going to go through tomorrow over a nice tea and add all the books I haven't read yet to my to-read list. 

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Kareni, I want to echo all the other welcomes. As Amy said we did have a serious reading of romance novels discussion while you were away. You will enjoy reading it. :grouphug:

 

 

Stacia, Thanks but no! No books that make one's head hurt for me! :lol:

 

 

I'm a bit in the reading doldrums.  I have fifteen books that I want to read and haven't picked up any of them because I can't decide.  Luckily I've had all the cookbook recommendations that you gals gave me to keep me company at night in bed. 

 

DD and I just gave up on our third read aloud in a row.  It's a little depressing.  They have either not grabbed our attention within 50 pages or were so little kid that she and I couldn't take them seriously.  Tomorrow night we start The Moonstone.  I hope I'm a strong enough reader to read it aloud because I know it will test my pronunciation on many words.

 

My current batch of the doldrums seem to be making me retreat into books, unfortunately into wasting time online too. I could be much more productive!

 

Dd read the Moonstone and loved it when she was S's age. I'm sure she will love it. When they got older I ended up handing seversl read alouds over for them to finish. I was too slow alound. Even everyone taking turns was too slow.

 

The BBC dramatized The Moonstone at Christmas this year. I have never read it so need to before we watch. It's recorded.

 

 

  

Thank you <3 I am struggling with having to put school on hold a few days, but I am loving all the reading I am getting in! The older two kids are thankfully, obediently, plugging along with their school work.

 

 

:grouphug: I hope you feel better soon!

 

 

Good Evening, dolls!!!

For fans of Karen Moning, her latest in Fever series Feversong is coming out tomorrow!

Check out bbc's Earthsea and radio dramatization of Ursula Le Guin story. http://bbc.in/1HHtUPH

Check out Lithubs 30 essential crime reads written by women in the last 100 years. http://lithub.com/30-essential-crime-reads-written-by-women-in-the-last-100-years/

A list where I have read many of the books or at least the authors. One of my next books is by Lindsey Davis who I have never read. I chose the Ides of April ovrr Silver Pig because it was on so many home ed reading lists and we never got around to it. I have looked forward to it for years...I may go and switch them and read The Silver Pig now. That will save the vowels for later in the birthstone challenge. If I do all the months by spelling the stones I think vowels are going to be the challenge come fall. I spent quite awhile hunting for an E yesterday.

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I read a Coelho novel a couple of years ago, back when I assigned stars to books. I gave it a single star and even wondered why I had finished it. Definitely not my speed...

 

The last few I've read have been incredibly ordinary. I agree that the Alchemist is a younger person's book but think Veronika should be on high school reading lists.

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Yes, it is clever. And there are other contextual references that also make it clever.

 

I finished it tonight. The Goodreads reviewer who recommends this one for "readers w/ a spine, a sense of history, & an openness to discovery that comes via great fear" -- yes. Just yes.

 

 

 

The connection didn't occur to me until just now - I started listening to Ayaan HIrsi Ali's Infidel yesterday.

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If you come across any additional information about depression/anxiety/exercise then please pass it on.  Ever since finishing the book I've been diligently getting on the treadmill for at least 30 minutes.  I hate it but knowing it's so good for me makes me do it. 

 

 

 

It's more about aging/dementia, but I read The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain by Barbara Strauch last year.  It's excellent and optimistic, but the chapter on exercise and the brain had me tying up my sneaker laces right that minute and taking a walk.

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If you come across any additional information about depression/anxiety/exercise then please pass it on.  Ever since finishing the book I've been diligently getting on the treadmill for at least 30 minutes.  I hate it but knowing it's so good for me makes me do it. 

 

 

 

 

While any exercise is great remember what they found out with the rats. Rats that were forced to exercise did not have the same brain benefits as rats that wanted to run. So while any bit of moving is good you do want to try and enjoy it. Try different things (I personally detest treadmills....no I hate them with a fiery passion and refuse to get on one), play upbeat music you like, listen to a great audio book, buy yourself nice workout clothes and shoes (yes this actually can motivate you and make you feel good), or watch a favorite youtuber. If you're hating every minute and grudging along you won't get as much exercise as you think you do. Studies show that when you are enjoying yourself then you push yourself harder and use more energy. Of course, we don't need studies for that. Just watch kids play. They get some serious exercise in because they are having a blast.

 

I'm only telling you this because I cringe when I hear someone suffering on a treadmill. As much as I love exercise I want to smash any treadmill I see. Do you have a jump rope? Good old fashion fun right there and great cardio. My youngest has taken my jump rope and turned into a python so now I use my imaginary jump rope. Let me tell you I am a *pro* jump roper with my imaginary rope! Have a jump rope contest with your dd. Turn on music and dance with your kids. Jump up and dance for every commercial when you watch TV (if you have commercials). Stretch while watching TV or reading.

 

Okay, I'll stop babbling. If you hate the treadmill don't torture yourself. You won't stick with exercise if you hate it.

 

 

I am trying to finish my audio book. It a race against the clock! This morning was a very gruesome scene. The book is supposed to be a love story, but it's more a sad and gruesome things that happened during WWII story.

 

Last night I finished The Genius of Birds which was fascinating. I read it in 2 days. I will never look at a bird the same. Highly recommend this non-fiction book.   

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Jane, thanks for your earlier link to the Irish Times for even more books to add to my tbr list!

 

And, in case anyone needs more ideas of books to add to your tbr lists..., here's an article from the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative:

A Brief Tour Through Four Major Arabic Literature Prizes

 

Thanks for this. I requested that my library purchase Code Name:Butterfly.

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I tried to start the read-aloud of Arabian Nights yesterday.  I had to stop, because the prologue had a scene that sounded like an orgy or something - definitely not appropriate for 10-year-olds - so now I see I will have to pre-read and edit before I continue with that.  Oops.

 

 

We just started this last week.  Definitely in need of editing.  My husband is the reader, and there are a lot of "And then...um...well..."  He ended up summarizing some parts.  Now that we are into the different short stories, it is getting easier, though there are still stops and umm's.  Maybe it depends on the translation/version as well. Ours is in an older proper English, and so we are also having a lot of vocabulary explanation.  It's working out though because while I'm explaining what something means or how something works, my DH is skimming ahead and figuring out if he needs to edit/skip/whatever.  :)

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And this is why I don't like to pre-read for my 10th grader:

 

I assigned Like Water for Chocolate for World Lit, and I had read it last spring. When somebody here (I think Lady Florida?) said that she liked the book until the last chapter, I realized that I drew a complete blank about the ending. Truth be told, I only vaguely remember the book at this point. Ugh. I need to go reread the last bit before he does so I can discuss it with him. At this point, I am far better off just being one chapter ahead of his school reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Penguin
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You ladies are reading much more sophisticated literature than I am right now.  I have been in the bed for the past few days with pneumonia and my kindle.  In my search for a light read, I discovered a free ebook about Grimm's Fairy Tales titled UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn.  I got sucked into the freebie book ( even though it had major grammar errors) and downloaded the rest of the series on my Kindle.  I finished all five of them and really loved the series.  I would recommend this series to girls as young as 6th grade and up. The series is full of adventure, magic, and light romance (kissing). Thankfully, the other four books in the series have been well edited before being published. 

 

I liked Unenchanted, though when I read it I think there were only 3(?) and so I haven't finished the series.  Glad to hear it continued well!

 

My time spent in lines 3 is spent finding/reading free ebooks, mostly in the fantasy/scifi and mystery categories.  Most of them are too silly to count towards a book challenge, but every once and a while there is a good one and then I struggle not to buy the next in the series (I justify spending the time reading these books as "at least it's free!" because I usually can be doing something productive).  Usually I win.  Sometimes I don't :) 

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And this is why I don't like to pre-read for my 10th grader:

 

I assigned Like Water for Chocolate for World Lit, and I had read it last spring. When somebody here (I think Lady Florida?) said that she liked the book until the last chapter, I realized that I drew a complete blank about the ending. Truth be told, I only vaguely remember the book at this point. Ugh. I need to go reread the last bit before he does so I can discuss it with him. At this point, I am far better off just being one chapter ahead of his school reading.

 

There's nothing inappropriate about the ending (well, there's a bit of sex but it's not graphic). I just didn't like how the story ended.

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I settled on reading The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes for most of the week, but then got frustrated with my giant stack of in progress books and decided to pick something short just so I could have the satisfaction of finishing it.

 

I read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard. I expected to like this, but I didn't. I think it's because I really don't get existentialism. I have a feeling that the play would be funnier if I saw it performed instead of reading it, but it just seemed confusing and sad to me. There were funny parts -- I mean, I got the jokes -- but ultimately a play about the pointlessness of life and the inevitability of death just seemed rather bleak to me. I mean, why live at all if that's what you think about life? Anyway, it left me scratching my head. I felt the same way about The Stranger when I read it years ago, but then The Stranger wasn't supposed to be a comedy.

 

And of course I know I am really in the minority, as the play has an average 4 star rating on Goodreads!

 

The Case Against Sugar is good. Full of Taubes' meticulous reporting about food politics, which will make you paranoid about any dietary advice you may have heard in the past 50 years. Having read Good Calories, Bad Calories and yet having had a bad experience personally with a low carb diet, I found it interesting that he backpedals a little in this book by saying that maybe it isn't excess carbs per se that cause diabetes and heart disease but specifically sugar. He's making a good case for it so far and my own personal experience with sugar is making me inclined to believe him.

 

To add yet another book to my stack, I pulled out a book I was planning to read last year in the hospital after Abby was born. Onward and Upward in the Garden is a collection of Katherine S. White's gardening columns from The New Yorker, edited posthumously by her husband, EB White. It's funny and charming and optimistic and had things gone well it would have been a nice recovery read for me (I like gardening). But with Abby's diagnosis, normal life kind of got shoved to the side. Now I'm finally in a spot where I'm getting back to it, and it seems appropriate to begin the new year reading about growing things.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead almost immediately after reading Hamlet. I pretty much had the same reaction as you! It left me scratching my head and wondering what kind of stupid I was for not "getting" this book. I not only didn't get it but also had a hard time following the story. Ugh! I was only glad I had not assigned it to my dd along with Hamlet. I just don't feel the love.

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I finished Everyone Brave is Forgiven and it left me feeling conflicted. I feel the satisfaction of a good book and sad at the same time for all the characters. I recommend the book, but it talks about the horror of war and discrimination which I did not expect. The book is called "a love story" and it is on many levels. It is not a romance, but deals with love on a different plane. The most surprising to me was how even in the depths of war and destruction the racial bridge was not dismantled. Even with daily bombing and the death and destruction that came with it a young white woman was still shunned and attacked for feeding and teaching young black orphan children. This book will stick with me.

 

   

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Try as I might, I cannot keep up with this thread this week. (It's been a struggle the last two too of course.)  It is tough, because in my head I have a relationship and running conversations with many of you...but don't at all seem to have the time to commit thought to thread!    And it causes me to talk to myself :lol:  (It's a pity, because of course the more you post, the more people get to know you, and by not posting I remain, what, mysterious?)  So consider yourselves all "liked"...!

 

I found the books-on-the-nightstand-table thing kind of fun, though:

The Pursuit of Power

Postwar

Darkness at Noon

The Demon-Haunted Land

The Old Ways

 

Glad I am up to having completed four books on Week 3 because I haven't finished any on my massive Kindle pile.  And I have thrown one on the Abandoned pile:  The Nix by Nathan Hill.  This was audio.  Too close to too much other not terribly great social realist fiction I have encountered lately, so I was unmoved by either the narrative or the characters or, sadly, the setting (*my* Chicago, 80s-90s).  Plus, well, I seem to be really sensitive lately to undiagnosed mental illness-slash-learning difficulties-slash abuse in children, especially if these are used as narrative arc. NO THANKS GAME OVER put on burn pile

 

Many of you are mentioning reading doldrums.  Well I guess I saw mine coming a long way off so I just need to continue to say "no" to fiction-reading (or -listening).  Harrumph.

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I just finished Please Look After Mom  by Kyung-Sook Shin which I read in anticipation of my book group meeting on Thursday.  It was a poignant read about an older woman who goes missing in a Seoul subway station when she and her husband are separated as he steps on a train without her.  The book is divided into four parts each of which is narrated by a different person.  It was a relatively quick read that might interest some here.  Some of the place names are familiar to me since my daughter is living in South Korea, so that added to my interest.  I suspect that the discussion will be lively.

 

 

"WINNER OF THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE 

 

When sixty-nine-year-old So-nyo is separated from her husband among the crowds of the Seoul subway station, her family begins a desperate search to find her. Yet as long-held secrets and private sorrows begin to reveal themselves, they are forced to wonder: how well did they actually know the woman they called Mom?
 
Told through the piercing voices and urgent perspectives of a daughter, son, husband, and mother, Please Look After Mom is at once an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love."

 

**

Last night I finished the contemporary romance Hard Hitter (A Brooklyn Bruisers Novel)  by Sarina Bowen which I enjoyed.  Others of her books remain my favorites though. (Some adult content.)

 

"As team captain and enforcer, Patrick O'Doul puts the bruise in the Brooklyn Bruisers. But after years of hard hits, O'Doul is feeling the burn, both physically and mentally. He conceals his pain from his coach and trainers, but when his chronic hip injury becomes too obvious to ignore, they send him for sessions with the team’s massage therapist.
 
After breaking up with her long-term boyfriend, Ari Bettini is in need of peace of mind. For now, she’s decided to focus on her work: rehabilitating the Bruisers’ MVP. O'Doul is easy on the eyes, but his reaction to her touch is ice cold. Ari is determined to help O'Doul heal, but as the tension between them turns red hot, they both learn that a little TLC does the body good..."

 

Regards,

Kareni

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Don't be embarrassed. Most people automatically spell it with two. 

 

I'm from NJ so whenever I hear Paterson, I automatically spell it with one.   ;)

 

The kids had homeschool swim classes today so I had to dig out another book to start since my In Death and Lamb are on my computer.  I ALMOST brought The Magic of Reality by Richard Dawkins since it's on my list for a non-fiction book you own but haven't read.  Then I started thinking if that was a good choice to read at a homeschool event, even here in liberal land.   :001_rolleyes:   So I brought City of Bones instead for a book that takes place in NYC.    I have a feeling Dawkins would have been okay, there were only a couple other kids there and the only girl besides dd was wearing a bikini, so I doubt they're real conservative.

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Good morning all~

I didn't get much print reading in this week due to traveling and celebrating our 26th anniversary!

 

Happy Anniversary!!!

Good morning, dear hearts. Here is a link to Eliana's post from last year about Martin Luther King which is jammed pack with information.

 

 

http://www.read52booksin52weeks.com/2016/01/bw3-martin-luther-king.html

 

Thanks for that link, Robin! I seem to be reading a lot of MLK lately.

 

Well, well, well - I am still reading books from Wk 1 and Wk2 :(

Not to worry! Even a paragraph a day is progress! I couldn't find much reading time at all when DS was the age of your kids. And I only had one...

 

I finished Everyone Brave is Forgiven and it left me feeling conflicted. I feel the satisfaction of a good book and sad at the same time for all the characters. I recommend the book, but it talks about the horror of war and discrimination which I did not expect. The book is called "a love story" and it is on many levels. It is not a romance, but deals with love on a different plane. The most surprising to me was how even in the depths of war and destruction the racial bridge was not dismantled. Even with daily bombing and the death and destruction that came with it a young white woman was still shunned and attacked for feeding and teaching young black orphan children. This book will stick with me.

Thanks for that review. I have that book on my TBR list.

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ACK!!! DS is on the second book of Artemis Fowl. Someone please tell me how many times the books in the series mention "Dwarf Gas." I swear, if I asked DS what the book was about, he would say "Dwarf Gas." If these unfortunate incidents of flatulence continue, I am going to need some serious chocolate to get me through them.  :blink:

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Some book-ish posts ~

 

8 Romances for Fans of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries Flappers!  by Nicola R. White

**

 

A currently free Kindle book ~  The Evil Shepherd  by E. P. Oppenheim

 

"A former defense attorney turned righteous crusader is the hero of this blockbuster novel from an early master of the thriller genre

A businessman is found stabbed through the heart, the obvious suspect his partner: Oliver Hilditch, a cold-eyed fellow with a paper-thin alibi. Hilditch seems destined for the gallows, but he is saved by brilliant defense attorney Francis Ledsam, who uses every legal trick he knows to free his client. It is a defense to be proud of, but Ledsam’s joy vanishes when Hilditch’s wife informs him that her husband is guilty of crimes far more monstrous than murder.
 
His faith in his career shaken, Ledsam vows never again to defend a guilty man. But when his newfound principles run up against the harsh reality of real-world justice, he finds himself trapped between his love for a beautiful woman and a powerful desire to do the right thing—no matter the cost."

**

 

I enjoyed this CUrrently free contemporary romance some time ago:  Rise: a ROCK SOLID romance  by Karina Bliss

 

And this sounds intriguing ~  SkyWhisperers  by Natasja Hellenthal

 

Regards,

Kareni 

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I read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead almost immediately after reading Hamlet. I pretty much had the same reaction as you! It left me scratching my head and wondering what kind of stupid I was for not "getting" this book. I not only didn't get it but also had a hard time following the story. Ugh! I was only glad I had not assigned it to my dd along with Hamlet. I just don't feel the love.

I appreciated RandG and Hamlet more after I watched them enacted. I got even more out of RandG after I read Waiting for Godot, which I thought was pretty awful. What I took away from RandG that made me appreciate it:

 

1. All the world's a stage, all the men and women merely players, they have their exits and their entrances.

2. The Play's the thing.

 

We are each in our own cosmic play (life). As they come and go, we interact with other players, but we don't know what is happening to them when they are off stage. They are living out their own dramas.

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ACK!!! DS is on the second book of Artemis Fowl. Someone please tell me how many times the books in the series mention "Dwarf Gas." I swear, if I asked DS what the book was about, he would say "Dwarf Gas." If these unfortunate incidents of flatulence continue, I am going to need some serious chocolate to get me through them. :blink:

Ds3 and Ds4 say at least once in each book. Sorry.

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ACK!!! DS is on the second book of Artemis Fowl. Someone please tell me how many times the books in the series mention "Dwarf Gas." I swear, if I asked DS what the book was about, he would say "Dwarf Gas." If these unfortunate incidents of flatulence continue, I am going to need some serious chocolate to get me through them.  :blink:

 

It continues.  Through all of them.  It does get less as they go on.

 

Go ahead and get the chocolate now.

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Hi Everyone! I've really enjoyed reading through all the posts this week. I always find another book to put in my tbr pile.

 

Last week I read "The Women in the Castle" by Jessica Shattuck. This was an ARC copy given to me by Harper Collins Publishing. The book is scheduled to be released in April. I really, really wanted to love this book. I loved the premise - It is a story about three German women and their children and their quest to rebuild their lives after World War II. The story bounces between before the war, during the war, and after the war. I waited for the book to spring to life, but it never quite got there. Having said that, I did like the book, and I gave it three stars.

 

The second book I finished was "I am the Messenger." I didn't really care for the writing style of this book, and I found I wasn't as emotionally tied to the characters as I was for "The Book Thief." The book is about a young cab driver who is "chosen" to be a messenger. The messages he caries vary with each person he is sent to. I also gave this book three stars.

 

Happy Reading!

Edited by AllSmiles
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It's more about aging/dementia, but I read The Secret Life of the Grown-Up Brain by Barbara Strauch last year.  It's excellent and optimistic, but the chapter on exercise and the brain had me tying up my sneaker laces right that minute and taking a walk.

 

Thank you for the recommendation!

 

While any exercise is great remember what they found out with the rats. Rats that were forced to exercise did not have the same brain benefits as rats that wanted to run. So while any bit of moving is good you do want to try and enjoy it. Try different things (I personally detest treadmills....no I hate them with a fiery passion and refuse to get on one), play upbeat music you like, listen to a great audio book, buy yourself nice workout clothes and shoes (yes this actually can motivate you and make you feel good), or watch a favorite youtuber. If you're hating every minute and grudging along you won't get as much exercise as you think you do. Studies show that when you are enjoying yourself then you push yourself harder and use more energy. Of course, we don't need studies for that. Just watch kids play. They get some serious exercise in because they are having a blast.

 

I'm only telling you this because I cringe when I hear someone suffering on a treadmill. As much as I love exercise I want to smash any treadmill I see. Do you have a jump rope? Good old fashion fun right there and great cardio. My youngest has taken my jump rope and turned into a python so now I use my imaginary jump rope. Let me tell you I am a *pro* jump roper with my imaginary rope! Have a jump rope contest with your dd. Turn on music and dance with your kids. Jump up and dance for every commercial when you watch TV (if you have commercials). Stretch while watching TV or reading.

 

Okay, I'll stop babbling. If you hate the treadmill don't torture yourself. You won't stick with exercise if you hate it.

 

 

Good information and pep talk.  I needed that today.  I will work on a) good attitude and b) finding something I love.  I used to hike a ton when DH and I were young and dating ... I think we could all really enjoy that now. 

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My first ever Harlequin romance showed up in the mail today.  It's in the Romance Western category.  I cant' even remember when I ordered it since I bought it used.  I will report back when I've started/finished it!  :)

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Published in 1901, My Brilliant Career is indeed a book ahead of its time.  For a girl in the bush, destiny was marriage and childbearing.  Miles Franklin wanted more and so, as a teen, she creates Sybylla Melvyn, a passionate rebel who craves beauty and art in a place ruled by hard labor. She is a feminist who rues her limited options and a progressive thinker whose ideas must have been considered radical at the time.

 

As noted previously, I loved the film My Brilliant Career as a young woman and so it was with some trepidation that I read the novel written by a teenager.  Once again, my younger self did not disappoint! :lol:

 

By Gaslight awaited me at the library yesterday. I continue reading The Lost Art of Dress as my non-fiction selection and Vulture in a Cage (poetry).  All should keep me off the streets and out of trouble for a while.

 

Winter brings camellias.  From our stroll in a formal garden yesterday:

 

32310450635_fe3bf9a7d3.jpg

 

P.S. I have to think about those titles, Robin. Some I clearly know, others have me scratching my head. 

 

Wait Jane - they are blooming OUTSIDE now?!?!  I know they bloom now in my mother's greenhouse but I thought that was just because it was a greenhouse...

 

I finished listening to Jane Harlow's Golden Summer.  I enjoyed it but as I said before, I think you have to have grown up on this sort of book in order to enjoy one now-a-days.  I can't usually listen to a book while I am painting.  Well, I can but I don't hear it.  This time I was first colouring in tiny houses and then painting a lot of blades of grass, so it was nice to have something to listen to.  I can move my shoulder enough to paint now, which is a relief, but that will come to an end for a bit with the surgery.  My thoughtful oldest gave me a colouring book, thinking I could do that lefthanded.  Good idea.  I've finally reached some sort of peace with my new phone, mostly because middle one got me signed up for instagram.  Now when I pick up my phone, there is some gorgeous photo of mountains in Alaska or sunrise through a sandstorm or a strange animal or a spacewalk or a beautiful painting of a dragon or something.  An endless supply of 5 second travel escapes or creative inspiration.  Still working on my Dodie Smith book, in between rereading all my painting books, which is definitely not improving my painting.  I'm hoping it is a get worse before you get better thing.

 

Erin, glad things went ok.

 

Nan

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